Tuesday 29 April 2008
my idea about Sulukule
hi Buddies,
Based on the information we collected during the last week, I have some thoughts about Sulukule. Just some personal ideas. If you are interested in, please tell me your comments and suggestions.
Firstly, as I saw, there is little relationship between the people in Sulukule and the Walls. The renters don't go to the Walls for some social activities. And on the other hand, there is little linkages between the renters and the place, by which I mean the renters living in Sulukule don't work in the factories. They just earn their lives in their houses or do some music-related jobs, because of the culture of Roma. So in another word, there is no strong reason that people "must" live in Sulukule, in the sense that their livelihoods and culture are based on the community per se, not based on the place where they occupy. From this angle, relocation seems to be a good choice for the municipality due to their needs of the land.
However, relocation is disaster to the renters because they are not the owners. If the municipality want to get the land, some compensation must be given, to the owners of the buildings, not the users. So the renter will get nothing but have to find a new place to live. If they can't find, they will become homeless. Nevertheless, in the eyes of municipality, what they are doing is obviously right. Let me give an comparison. A (some guy) lend a book to B, and C want to buy the book from A. So C will ask B to return the book. But B says he doesn't want to return it because he can't get any benifit. Obviously the unreasonable person in this issue is B.
In the name of the human rights, however, forced eviction is evil, and we won't do that. But Sulukule must be changed as the quality of the buildings is very bad and some of them are dangerous to live in. We can't conserve a slum as what it was. Sulukule must move on. So what I want to show is another way to potect the renters, as well as develop Sulukule. It is like renewal or upgrading, but goes beyond that. Do you remember what I mentioned in the evening about the tourism. I think revive tourism is the best choice for the future of Sulukule, based on the following reasons:
1 there are 70% Romans, which is a very famous word in the world.
2 there is the World Heritage--the Walls, which is a very attractive place of interest to the tourists.
3 Fortunately, the Walls are built by Romans. In this sense, the linkage between Romans and the Walls is extremely strong. If the municipality want to develop the tourism around the Walls, Romans is a necessary element. That means if we can persuade the government to focus on the tourism, the Romans won't be evicted.
So it comes to the question that how we can draw the attention of the municipality. Of course we can because there are lots of benefits to do this. Here are some:
1 make the city much more beautiful. When I came to Istanbul, I doubted that is it really the most important city in Turkey? It is just like a small town anywhere in the world. Maybe the only difference is that there is less cabage in the street. It should not been seen in such a famous city. Let return to Sulukule. It's a slum in the center of Istanbul. As a world heritage, (don't worried about in danger or not), it should be attractive. But I didn't see many foreign tourist nearby. I think one of the reasons is that there are some slums just at the foot of the Walls. If Sulukule is upgraded, obviusly the city will become more beautiful, and more foreign tourist will come here.
2 what benifit can the municipality get? When tourism is developed, arange of investments will be attracted, and more money can be put into the development of the tourism and the city. A benign loop will be formed. In addition, unlike industry, tourism will produce little pollution. It is environmental-friendly.
Someone may ask the following question, and I will try to address it:
1 what the Romans do for the tourism?
Romans are good at singing and dancing. they can hold some preformances for the tourists to show the Roman culture. And they can be the guides of the Walls. there are a lot of works they can do.
2 how about the non-romans?
they can be the street seller or the cleaners, ect.
3 Sulukule is not seemed as a location of Romans.
As I said, Roma culture is based on the community. where there is Romans, there is Roma culture.
4 How about the people who have already moved?
If they want to come back, they will be welcome.
in my opinion, there are lots of work we can do based on what BUDD did last year. and if we can use their materials, not focus on another place, it will be much easier and deeper to make a good project. What do you think?
Lu Haoxuan
Based on the information we collected during the last week, I have some thoughts about Sulukule. Just some personal ideas. If you are interested in, please tell me your comments and suggestions.
Firstly, as I saw, there is little relationship between the people in Sulukule and the Walls. The renters don't go to the Walls for some social activities. And on the other hand, there is little linkages between the renters and the place, by which I mean the renters living in Sulukule don't work in the factories. They just earn their lives in their houses or do some music-related jobs, because of the culture of Roma. So in another word, there is no strong reason that people "must" live in Sulukule, in the sense that their livelihoods and culture are based on the community per se, not based on the place where they occupy. From this angle, relocation seems to be a good choice for the municipality due to their needs of the land.
However, relocation is disaster to the renters because they are not the owners. If the municipality want to get the land, some compensation must be given, to the owners of the buildings, not the users. So the renter will get nothing but have to find a new place to live. If they can't find, they will become homeless. Nevertheless, in the eyes of municipality, what they are doing is obviously right. Let me give an comparison. A (some guy) lend a book to B, and C want to buy the book from A. So C will ask B to return the book. But B says he doesn't want to return it because he can't get any benifit. Obviously the unreasonable person in this issue is B.
In the name of the human rights, however, forced eviction is evil, and we won't do that. But Sulukule must be changed as the quality of the buildings is very bad and some of them are dangerous to live in. We can't conserve a slum as what it was. Sulukule must move on. So what I want to show is another way to potect the renters, as well as develop Sulukule. It is like renewal or upgrading, but goes beyond that. Do you remember what I mentioned in the evening about the tourism. I think revive tourism is the best choice for the future of Sulukule, based on the following reasons:
1 there are 70% Romans, which is a very famous word in the world.
2 there is the World Heritage--the Walls, which is a very attractive place of interest to the tourists.
3 Fortunately, the Walls are built by Romans. In this sense, the linkage between Romans and the Walls is extremely strong. If the municipality want to develop the tourism around the Walls, Romans is a necessary element. That means if we can persuade the government to focus on the tourism, the Romans won't be evicted.
So it comes to the question that how we can draw the attention of the municipality. Of course we can because there are lots of benefits to do this. Here are some:
1 make the city much more beautiful. When I came to Istanbul, I doubted that is it really the most important city in Turkey? It is just like a small town anywhere in the world. Maybe the only difference is that there is less cabage in the street. It should not been seen in such a famous city. Let return to Sulukule. It's a slum in the center of Istanbul. As a world heritage, (don't worried about in danger or not), it should be attractive. But I didn't see many foreign tourist nearby. I think one of the reasons is that there are some slums just at the foot of the Walls. If Sulukule is upgraded, obviusly the city will become more beautiful, and more foreign tourist will come here.
2 what benifit can the municipality get? When tourism is developed, arange of investments will be attracted, and more money can be put into the development of the tourism and the city. A benign loop will be formed. In addition, unlike industry, tourism will produce little pollution. It is environmental-friendly.
Someone may ask the following question, and I will try to address it:
1 what the Romans do for the tourism?
Romans are good at singing and dancing. they can hold some preformances for the tourists to show the Roman culture. And they can be the guides of the Walls. there are a lot of works they can do.
2 how about the non-romans?
they can be the street seller or the cleaners, ect.
3 Sulukule is not seemed as a location of Romans.
As I said, Roma culture is based on the community. where there is Romans, there is Roma culture.
4 How about the people who have already moved?
If they want to come back, they will be welcome.
in my opinion, there are lots of work we can do based on what BUDD did last year. and if we can use their materials, not focus on another place, it will be much easier and deeper to make a good project. What do you think?
Lu Haoxuan
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